Chapter 1
Blake Foley was in the dorm’s lounge with his friends and squeeze, Shelby Douglas. It was a quaint nook, a half moon room erected before the entry into the building. The left side of its prominent arch was painted gold while the right blue, continuing down the halls on their respective sides before continuing on up the stairs. There were two set, first at their middles then all the way at the end. Those colors continued to clash at every other nooks just like that one in that six-story building.
Most in that little gathering were done with their classes that balmy, September Friday, which with how Blake pawed at Shelby he was ready to end it with a bang. They didn’t have to go far. His room was on the first floor, the third one along blue hall, along the stair side. They could leave for, say, seven minutes and be back before any of the others even looked up from their phones. The problem was his roommate, Kyd Summers. He was… there. That greasy, pasty individual simply existed. He went to classes, which he normally began as early as six in the morning and was never back until nine at night, came back and then just stayed in there, either playing on his laptop or watching weird things or both at once. Fridays were a special case, making it apparent he wasn’t a complete robot, but that was also a problem. He didn’t have anyone special-
It was a miracle! He came out of the room. Kyd scuttled by the lounge, heading for the entry-
“Where you going?” Blake yelled after, making the bloke jump and all but Shelby laugh. The dork wheeled in place but was just as quickly back around, muttering, “Oh. You know.” before he cleared his throat and continued through the smoked glass double doors. Without missing a beat.
Derek from Chad asked, “That was your roommate, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. He’s weird, but harmless enough.” Blake chortled, give Shelby’s alabaster cheek a peck. She was already rolling her eyes, those greens glazed over, her scowl deepening as he squeezed her thigh and said, “Room’s free. Didn’t you want to watch that Addams Family show on Netflix or something?”
“It’s not about the family. Only Wednesday.” She scoffed as she stood, prying free from his clutches. She straightened her purple band shirt, adjusting the lace bra under. Itdid nothing to hide her bar piercings on her tips. Her midriff was free,naval pierced with three studs. A chain ran through them, hanging down the side of hertight leather skirt. Her knee-high boots clonked when she turned around, waiting for Blake to stand. Shelorded over him because of those boots, sealing the deal of her being his senior dommy mommy. She then told him, “I’m feeling gross, though.”
He huffed and wrapped his tanned arm around her waist all the same, guiding her to the room. It reeked of what he expected; that wallflower was well and truly nose blind to his own pollen. Regardless, her cherry blossom perfume quickly overtook it, and they both enjoyed that (shitty) show.
Kyd, meanwhile, headed for Adult Playtime. It was a local adult toy shop, filled with toys, movies, lingerie, and, his main focus, furry costumes. Adult Playtime wasn’t too far from the dorms, closer to the women’s, up the hill and just on the other side of Addam’s and Burn’s Hall. It was tucked into the hillside, cozy between a big block book store with a coffee shop and just a coffee shop. It was plain, unassuming, blending in. Then one stepped through its door. The soft beige exterior, its tinted windows, hid away bright scarlets and violets, swirling together under dim lights just enough to illuminate the merchandise but not enough to bring out the stains on the linoleum. There weren’t many movies but the back wall was laden with reading material. Toys took up the bulk of the front and around the counter, with the more risque items in the glass display before the cashier, with even top-shelf goods on a polished wooden shelf beyond and above.
He shambled into the place, finding it mostly empty again. The first time he entered, back in August, there was a gaggle of girls, cackling over different sized, and colored, dildos. They didn’t notice him for ages, simply standing there, frozen; however, when they began to play with them he flew out of the building, his pants both his sail and his anchor, sodden when he scuttled into his room. The next time there was an old man trying to hit on the clerk, holding several mags. Given how he pawed at his crotch he didn’t want to wait to peel open those pages and add a layer of glue, instead wanting to add a few streaks of white to her rainbow-covered chest. She didn’t humor him, keeping the same, undead look Kyd picked up on by his third visit. There was nobody then, and he was able to look at those suits proper. He knew he was better off ordering one online, but he didn’t know which one he exactly wanted, which one called to him, what his inner self truly was. The Discord advised him to begin there; they were cheap but decent enough quality and if he liked it then he could order a custom one. The problem remained that he didn’t know which one to get. The shop only had twenty to choose from, which when separated by animal reduced it to ten. Separating and parsing it by outward sex put it at five. Three stood out to him. The red panda had a giant derpy head to balance out the long, fluffy tail, while the yellow fox had two tails. Supposedly it was based off a video game character, as was the wide-eared, black-and-purple striped cat. None of them felt right. He hoped that if he gave it a couple weeks there’d be a new stock, but it was still the same inventory since he first-
The clerk called out to him, making him jump for the second time. He wheeled, running a hand through his oily, feathered, black hair, and shrank under her gaze, eating into his and devouring his very soul. “This is, like, your fourth time here and your second time just standing there.”
“You remember me,” he asked, voice crackling. Tears started to well in his bright brown eyes.
“I only remember those that look REALLY out of place. Buddy? You look like a fish flopping in the Sahara.” She sighed, leaning further on the counter, resting her hawkish face in her soft, dark hands. Her burgendy tube top rolled down a touch, revealing her solid white sports bra under, blocking any other detail her chest may have had. She had in white-X contacts that day, her hair dyed a brilliant red and pulled back into cornrows. “What is this, a prank?”
“No. I’m… I’m just not sure. Of which one-”
She strolled around the counter, joining him before the suits, and hummed, looking between them and him. Kyd was again frozen in place, paler than any ghost and sweating 50-cals. How he prayed he wasn’t there at that moment or to just die. As usual, he was ignored.
The clerk nodded, then pulled out the black wolf suit. Its muzzle was closed and had white accents on the sides. It had a soft pink nose, placed between cartoonishly big blue eyes, as well as a long, stiff, fluffy tail.
“This feels right for you,” she said, taking it back to the counter. She went back behind it and bent down, retrieving a garment bag. “Zipper’s on the back. You know how to take care of these otherwise, right?”
“I’ve got vids saved.”
She hummed, rang it up for him, and asked, “Will this be all?”
He already had his wallet out but absently nodded. She hit the total, held out her hand, and he paid. With cash; that was the one thing he didn’t want to explain to his parents. If they ever found out- if he lived if they found out…
The clerk handed him the garment bag, heavy with that suit. It wasn’t even one of the three he narrowed it down to, but he thanked her all the same. She hummed in response, forgotten as he left with a fresh spring in his step, heart hammering away. He did it. He actually did it! That was only the start, however. Tomorrow night was the true test and the real beginning to finding the real him.
